mong4牻
Jyutpingmong4
Yalemòhng
Definition
A black and white cow, or more generally, varicolored or disorderly and chaotic.
- a black and white cow
- varicolored; multicolored
- disorderly; messy; chaotic; random
colloquialdescriptions
How it's used
Used primarily to describe a state of extreme disorder or chaos, often implying that things are scattered in a way that lacks any logic or pattern. While it can technically refer to the coat of a cow, this usage is almost entirely absent from modern spoken Cantonese. It functions as an adjective that frequently takes the particle 晒 to emphasize the completeness of the mess.
Examples
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the Mandarin usage or literary definitions related to animals, as it is strictly used in colloquial Cantonese to describe messy or chaotic situations.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
